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<blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 994" data-attributes="member: 94"><p><strong>THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Finale)</strong></p><p></p><p>THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Part VII, FINALE)</p><p></p><p><em>The small and great are there;</em></p><p><em> and the servant is free from his master. </em></p><p><em>There the wicked cease from troubling;</em></p><p><em> and the weary be at rest. </em></p><p></p><p>The group wanted to move off immediately to the mist-shrouded doorway, but a quick check of the map showed that they'd missed a few rooms. At any rate, as Keldas pointed out, they didn't yet have all the pieces to the key.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, they found a secret door that led to a set of unexplored rooms. Cautious as ever, they opened the door onto a large room, with a high ceiling, an altar at one end, and mysterious runes covering the checkerboard floor.</p><p></p><p>Wulf pointed to the runes. "Trap, no doubt. Can yer read 'em from here?"</p><p></p><p>Keldas shook his head. "Not really. Appears to be draconic, but I can't quite make it out. I could cast <em>Fly</em> and hover out over them; see them better from above and not risk stepping on them."</p><p></p><p>Wulf didn't like the thought of using Keldas' spell so early. "Hmph. Shorty's got a <em>Ring of Levitation</em>, let's just have him do it." Wulf looked expectantly at the halfling, who in turn looked to Loyal. Loyal nodded.</p><p></p><p>"Well, ok." The halfling rubbed his hands together and floated out over the inscription. "Yep, it's draconic, all right. Let's see... Oh! A riddle! I like riddles!"</p><p></p><p>The halfling read aloud to them, a long-winded piece touting the glory of the mighty dragon Ashardalon, but buried inside was a couplet that even Wulf had heard before: <em>"The poor have it, and the rich need it..."</em></p><p></p><p>"Pfft. That's easy." The halfling said, "Nothing!"</p><p></p><p>Immediately a crackling ray of light sizzled out of the altar and into Shorty's chest, striking him dead instantly. He dropped to the floor with a tiny, sickly thud.</p><p></p><p>"HOLY CRAP!" The entire party jumped back a step or two. </p><p></p><p>Wulf was the first to speak. "Ooh, sorry about your cohort, Loyal... Ahh... Ach, right, assmar-- evil altar. You're the next logical choice."</p><p></p><p>The paladin protested only briefly, but the truth of the matter was that he was best equipped to ward off evil spells. He unfurled his <em>Wings of Flying</em> and soared into the room.</p><p></p><p>Keldas shouted from the doorway. "Don't read the runes!"</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, despite his near-godlike wisdom, the paladin couldn't help but look down. He, too, read the riddle, and there was a tension in the air as if <em>something</em> waited for his answer.</p><p></p><p>"Don't say 'Nothing!'," Keldas shouted.</p><p></p><p>Wulf nodded. "Right! Don't say nuthin'!"</p><p></p><p>The paladin said nothing.</p><p></p><p>Apparently, that too was the wrong answer. The sizzling ray of light struck the paladin, but as they'd hoped, he fought off its full effect. Even so, though he did not die, the ray drained a significant portion of his life force. His comrades could see him withering from across the room.</p><p></p><p>Alliane shoved her way to the front. "Lay hands upon the altar, Korak! Channel your divine energy!"</p><p></p><p>"Use your mojo, assmar!" Wulf shouted.</p><p></p><p>The paladin swooped down and laid his hands flat upon the altar, channeling all his divine energy into the stone. The altar buckled, cracked, and exploded.</p><p></p><p>There was polite applause from the back of the room. "Didn't know I could do that," Korak admitted. "Good to know..."</p><p></p><p>With the altar destroyed, they moved into the room. Wulf prodded the halfling's corpse with his toe and called Loyal over. "Get what yer need, elf, I'll come back and carry the body for yer." The elven archer stooped over his fallen comrade to recover anything of use.</p><p></p><p>Wulf rubbed his hands together and peered through the archway off to the left of the altar. He could barely make out the shape of yet another sarcophagus. "Right. Next room. Dorn, assmar, come on."</p><p></p><p>Wulf moved cautiously to the sarcophagus and searched it carefully before pronouncing it safe to open. He ignited <em>Taranak</em> and stood at the head of the sarcophagus, motioning Dorn to its feet, and Korak to the side, so that he could push the heavy stone lid aside. "On three... three!"</p><p></p><p>The paladin pushed aside the lid, and immediately a thick brown smoke spilled into the room. The cloud spread fast, filling their room almost instantly and even moving out into the nearby room with the altar.</p><p></p><p>Wulf, Dorn, and Korak held their breath and the cloud passed. Alliane and Keldas covered their faces. Loyal coughed once, politely, looking only a little paler for having inhaled a good dose of the gas. </p><p></p><p>"That wasn't so bad. Anything inside?" Wulf started fishing out a vial of holy water to consecrate the coffin while Dorn prodded around inside, recovering a few gems and other trinkets. </p><p></p><p>"Not much of a take, really. I suppose that's why the trap wasn't particularly nas..."</p><p></p><p>There was a hideous shriek and a gurgling sound from the next room. Loyal was standing over Shorty, while half his insides bubbled up from his mouth and the other half went sliding down his pants leg. Loyal toppled over onto Shorty in a pile of multi-colored goo that, curiously enough, matched the classic elven palette of greens, yellows, and browns he usually wore.</p><p></p><p>Wulf smacked himself in the forehead. "Goddamn onset time! One minute! Yer could set yer clock by it! And I just sat there an' let it happen!"</p><p></p><p>Dorn and Alliane felt equally responsible. "Really should have occurred to me, too," said Alliane, "though I didn't have any magic prepared to deal with it in any case."</p><p></p><p>Dorn spread his hands. "Don't look at me, I'm just here for War support, really. Who knew the secondary effects would be so grim?"</p><p></p><p>Keldas was unrolling his scroll of <em>Teleport</em>. "Let's call it a day."</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p>They returned to the old man, and sensing that the end was near, they fully prepared themselves for an encounter with Gulthias.</p><p></p><p>Karak informed them that he had to pay a visit to the head of his order, and without saying another word, teleported himself off to the temple of Tyr.</p><p></p><p>Wulf conferred with Keldas. "First, another <em>Teleport</em> scroll. And I recommend some kind of permanent <em>Protection from Evil</em> for me. Last person yer want dominated and under control of a vampire is me." <em>And as an added perk, it'll keep summoned critters off my arse, but there's no sense mentioning that or everyone'll want one.</em></p><p></p><p>When it was all said and done, they'd stayed only a few days. Dorn had prepared a few useful scrolls, while Keldas and Alliane had made two magic helms of <em>Protection from Evil</em>, one for Wulf, and one that went, at least temporarily, to Loyal.</p><p></p><p>After another painful ressurrection, Loyal and Shorty had come to a bit of an understanding-- with Shorty angrily swearing he wouldn't follow Loyal's orders into death anymore, and Loyal consequently swearing to protect Shorty's life with his own, for a change.</p><p></p><p>The paladin returned after a couple of days but was curiously tight-lipped about the encounter with his superiors. </p><p></p><p>"Rip yer a new one, did they?"</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p>They returned to Gulthias' tower stronghold, moving systematically through more rooms, with more sarcophagi and more traps, from falling blocks to contact poisons to clouds of poison gas. They were, without a doubt, among the nastiest traps Wulf had ever seen, and despite his normally flippant attitude about poisoni, he took every precaution when opening the traps. He and Dorn alone would enter each new room, armed with rope, block and tackle, to remove the stone lid of each new sarcophagus.</p><p></p><p>They had only one tense moment, when a cloud of poison gas spread so far and so fast that the rest of the group, even in the next room, was in danger. Shorty coughed and sputtered, and the group sprang into action-- removing cloaks, amulets, rings, whatever was at hand, and casting <em>Guidance</em> and <em>Resistance</em> as fast as they could. Moments later, from beneath a pile of magical protections, they finally heard Shorty sputter, "It's ok, I'm alright!"</p><p></p><p>Their path was blocked only once more, by a group of gorillons led by a pair of hags. Dorn's whirling blades of divine wrath made short work of the gorillons, but the hags were unaffected. A lone gorillon managed to crawl his way to safety at the edge of the blade-storm, but Wulf dropped him with a couple of nasty slashes with his bone-handled dagger. The hags seemed to recognize the dagger, or perhaps the murderous look in Wulf's eye as they feebly lobbed <em>Magic Missiles</em> at him; or perhaps it was his bellowing cry to, "...slit the belly of the next bitch-hag to come within arms' reach!"</p><p></p><p>Whatever the cause, they turned invisible and fled the scene. </p><p></p><p>Dorn ceased concentration on his blades so that the rest of the group could enter the room. He was approaching Wulf, who was scouting out a curious alcove that jutted out into the room, when Wulf abruptly disappeared from view.</p><p></p><p>Korak had seen it, too, and though his mind didn't work quite as quickly, he gathered what had happened soon enough: Without hesitation, Dorn had followed in Wulf's footsteps and jumped into the alcove. Whatever fate was to befall Wulf, he was once again ready to share it. As Dorn disappeared, the paladin made up his mind and was the next to follow. </p><p></p><p>Keldas hesitated a moment or two longer than one might expect-- a fact not lost on Wulf, who waited on the "other side" of the teleport in a small 10x10 closet. He was hastily grabbing his comrades and shoving them off the "entry point" as quickly as they appeared. He didn't want to imagine what would happen to someone who was standing there when another body materialized inside.</p><p></p><p>Eventually they were all gathered together into a single small room. "Ain't this cozy. Wait here."</p><p></p><p>Wulf opened the door and scouted the hallway where they had arrived. It was all new territory to them, a wide, winding hallway full of lots of small "closets" and empty rooms. They cleared them one by one, eventually terminating in a large room with over a dozen sarcophagi. It was a familiar scene, including the part where countless shadows melted out of the walls, leeching away Wulf's life force until he was nearly dead, only to be blasted back by <em>Holy Smite</em> from the clerics and the holy symbol of the paladin.</p><p></p><p>They found the last piece of the key in the mouth of a dragon statue that came alive to attack them. Though it took an incredible amount of punishment while flanked by Korak and Wulf-- including one of the rare but ferocious flame bursts from <em>Taranak</em>-- the dragonnette did very little damage in return. The party was more concerned by the hags, who showed up at the opportune moment to harass them with magic from down the hall. Shorty and Keldas threw spells back in return, but were unable to pierce their magic resistance. Once again, as soon as the warriors arrived to support the spellcasters, the hags thought better of the situation, and fled invisibly.</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p>Now, at last, they had all the pieces of the key. Keldas cleverly put each of the twisted metal pieces together-- they formed into a single dragon-shaped key. Their explorations had mapped out every last cranny of the tower catacombs-- everything except the misty alcove where the keyhole was found.</p><p></p><p>They approached the alcove. As no one stepped forward to explore the mists, Loyal pulled a critter out of their <em>Bag of Tricks</em>. A wolverine answered the call and seemed none too happy when Loyal gestured into the alcove. It held its head and its tail low and loped into the mists. After a moment, it returned.</p><p></p><p>"So far, so good. Let's try the key." Wulf held out his hand for the key and Keldas willingly handed it over. After satisfying himself that there were no traps, Wulf inserted the key into the keyhole and cranked it around. The mists cleared a little bit and they could see to the other side of the alcove, not more than ten feet away, where a hallway stretched off beyond. The alcove was essentially like a little cubicle in the middle of a long hallway. Wulf checked their map. It seemed legitimate. Wulf tossed one of his stakes through, and it landed-- quite naturally although under the circumstances, quite unexpectedly-- on the other side. </p><p></p><p>Wulf was still expecting something unpleasant. He looked at the wolverine again. "Fetch." </p><p></p><p>The wolverine sighed and rolled its eyes, walked through the alcove, grabbed the stick, and returned. Nothing happened.</p><p></p><p>They were expecting Gulthias, not an empty cubicle. On a whim, Wulf ducked his head into the alcove and looked <em>up</em>.</p><p></p><p>And there it was.</p><p></p><p>Glaring down at him from some sixty feet up was a single point of light, as red as molten lava, like a baleful, unblinking eye. The ceiling was some forty feet across at the top, tapering down to ten feet to the alcove at the bottom, so it looked like an inverted alchemist's flask-- or perhaps a funnel. Wulf blinked to clear away the brief image of lava pouring down onto them all through that funnel.</p><p></p><p>Wulf grabbed Shorty and pointed up at the light. "Use yer ring... Go check that out."</p><p></p><p>Shorty pulled away. "I don't think so."</p><p></p><p>"Oh for the love of... Criminy, one bad day and yer go all gun shy on me. Fine. Give me yer ring, and I'll go."</p><p></p><p>Keldas interceded. "I'll go." In fact, he'd already cast the spell he needed. Assuming <em>Ghost Form</em>, he drifted up towards the glowing light.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the party made ready. Alliane cast <em>Magic Circle</em>, Wulf downed a potion of <em>Spider Climbing</em>, Shorty floated up slowly behind Keldas, Karak flew up beside him, Loyal nocked an arrow and focused his aim on the pinpoint of light, and Dorn grumbled about not being able to fly.</p><p></p><p>Keldas had nearly reached the ceiling and Shorty was not far behind. They could see that the pinpoint of light was a small hole in the middle of an iron port-hole cover set in the ceiling.</p><p></p><p>Wulf crouched nearby on the wall. "Put yer eye up to it, Shorty, take a peek."</p><p></p><p>The halfling ignored Wulf, focusing his attention instead on Keldas' ethereal form, which had drifted over to the edge of the ceiling. Keldas paused only a moment before poking his head through the ceiling-- or, as it were, through the floor of the chamber above them.</p><p></p><p>Gulthias was ready for them. A ray of light struck Keldas, and he recognized it as a <em>Finger of Death</em> as he fought off its effects. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't happy, and he retreated as fast as his <em>Ghost Form</em> would allow.</p><p></p><p>As he descended, Keldas gave a quick account of what he had seen, including a roll-call of Gulthias' last defenders.</p><p></p><p>"Big room, throne, crystal ball, hag, wight, 4 white gorillons, 4 shadows, 6 vampire spawn, 8 spectres, Gulthias, and <em>a huge beating heart twenty feet across!</em>"</p><p></p><p>Keldas had moved down just above the group on the floor and just below his comrades floating, flying, or clinging to the chamber above. When he was in position, he cast <em>Mass Haste</em>.</p><p></p><p>None too soon, as the shadows soon appeared around Shorty, attacking him viciously, draining his strength. Shorty fell back towards Wulf and the shadows pursued him. The voices of his comrades rung in his ears, advising him what to do, until finally the halfling shouted, "Enough!" He threw caution to the wind, started casting despite the fact that he was surrounded by enemies, and let fly with a <em>Burning Hands</em> spell. Before Wulf could even reflect on how the Halma-like the halfling's behavior was, the first fan of fire was followed by another. Three of the four shadows were vaporized, and Wulf reached forward from his perch on the wall to hack apart the last one.</p><p></p><p>Keldas pulled a scroll from his things and cast <em>Spider Climb</em> on Dorn, who moved up the wall to join Wulf, ready with his holy axe should the spectres decide to appear. Wulf pointed up at the iron port-hole cover. "As soon as that thing's out of the way, be handy with something <em>warlike.</em>"</p><p></p><p>Shorty, his strength severely drained, had shrugged off all the extra gear he could spare, but his nerve held. "I got it." A thin ray flashed from Shorty's hand and struck the iron cover. "Look out below!" The iron plate was <em>Reduced</em> to a fraction of its former size, and it came tumbling out of its moorings.</p><p></p><p>Wulf and Dorn had their eyes locked on the hole in the ceiling though they were both more concerned with spectres coming at them through the very walls. As they looked on, a hag poked her head over the hole, silhouetted by the bright red glow from the room beyond. Loyal let fly with an arrow-- specially enchanted by Dorn's <em>Greater Magic Weapon</em> spell. Where the hag had previously ignored Loyal's arrows, this time was different. She fell back howling from the hole.</p><p></p><p>But her purpose, apparently, was served, as the next one to appear at the hole was none other than Gulthias himself. He cackled with glee and detonated a burst of <em>Dispel Magic</em> amidst the heroes. Almost without exception, their <em>Haste</em> spells withered away. Gulthias, of course, suffered no such fate: His own <em>Haste</em> spell was still in effect, and he followed up his first spell with a massive <em>Fireball</em> in downtown party central.</p><p></p><p>As usual, Wulf's reflexes took over, and he avoided the entire blast. He couldn't ignore the cries of his allies, however-- particularly Shorty's plaintive wail. Though the halfling had dodged most of the blast, it had still nearly killed him. The frail sorceror looked over at Dorn (who'd taken the full brunt of the blast, and still looked none the worse for wear) and cried out, "Why am I even <em>here?</em>" Shorty started to slowly levitate himself out of the area.</p><p></p><p>Keldas was eager to sling spells against Gulthias, and countered with a targeted <em>Dispel Magic</em> of his own to drop the vampire's preparations. As he began casting, the second hag appeared, clutching the wall across from Wulf. Her invisible form materialized as she attacked.</p><p></p><p>"Fool!" she cried. "I've been waiting for that!" And with that, she loosed a horrendous volley of <em>Magic Missiles</em> into Keldas to disrupt his spellcasting.</p><p></p><p>Keldas winked and tapped the brooch at his neck. The hag's missiles struck the brooch and melted away harmlessly as Keldas completed his spell.</p><p></p><p>Just beneath the port-hole, Karak watched as Gulthias' form shimmered under the <em>Dispel Magic</em>. Not waiting to ponder what magic defenses had held and which had not, Karak flew up to the hole, and...</p><p></p><p>Perhaps we should mention here what Karak had been up to, while the party was preparing in the Forge, and he was off visiting his superiors at the temple of Tyr. Karak had beseeched the head of his order to prepare for him a magic scroll, inscribed with a secret paladin's ritual known as <em>Sacred Journey</em>. Although the price was steep-- and Wulf didn't want to think about where the paladin was coming up with that kind of petty cash-- there could be no doubt that the scroll was worth every copper.</p><p></p><p>For the <em>Sacred Journey</em>, although it apparently could manifest in many different ways, had this profound effect upon the aasimar:</p><p></p><p>It essentially doubled the amount of divine energy he could channel through his hands.</p><p></p><p>Thus, when Karak soared up to the hole in the ceiling, reached his hand through, touched Gulthias' ankle, and channeled every ounce of positive energy he could muster, the entire audience in attendance, heroes and evil foes alike, were rather surprised by the outcome. </p><p></p><p>Gulthias exploded into a million motes of dust, his magic rings and amulets tinkling down through the hole like candy from an overstuffed pinata.</p><p></p><p>Without the protection of Gulthias, the clean-up was elementary. Some two dozen of the startled onlookers wouldn't live to witness another such event.</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p>The party gathered up in the chamber above, where they could see up close the enormous beating heart that hung suspended on chains above their head.</p><p></p><p>"Well, there's an eye opener, and no mistake!" Shorty was still a little punch-drunk from the fireball. "You want me to blast it?"</p><p></p><p>"I don't have a stake big enough for that." It was probably twenty feet across.</p><p></p><p>Shorty spoke up. "I bet that's Gulthias' coffin."</p><p></p><p>Wulf looked to Keldas. "Ashardalon's heart, yer think? Probably not wise to muck with it."</p><p></p><p>Keldas shrugged. "We'll see." And with that, he turned his face towards the ceiling and belched forth a cone of acid. The chains gave way and what was left of the heart came crashing to the floor. The outer layers of the heart were eaten away, and they could see into the interior-- a four chambered heart. Sure enough, Gulthias' ghostly form rested in one of the chambers, as snugly if it were a sarcophagus. </p><p></p><p>"See yer." Wulf doused Gulthias' resting place with holy water. There was a loud, lingering shriek, then silence. The aura of evil seemed to have finally left Nightfang Spire.</p><p></p><p>The party dove into the heart, searching for the final payoff. Dorn was already circling around Gulthias' crystal ball, admiring it from all sides. Keldas and Shorty had cast <em>Detect Magic</em> and were amiably dividing up Gulthias' wizardly accoutrements, including a powerful <em>Ring of Protection</em>. There were several other magic items, plenty of gold and gems, but nothing that Wulf really wanted. For the most part, he stood aside disinterestedly and let his comrades pick through the loot.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, something caught his eye. Wulf caught his breath between his teeth and stepped forward.</p><p></p><p>He reached into the gory heart and pulled out a beautiful, bloody gold crown-- fit for a king.</p><p></p><p>"Mine."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wulf Ratbane, post: 994, member: 94"] [b]THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Finale)[/b] THE HEART OF NIGHTFANG SPIRE (Part VII, FINALE) [i]The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. There the wicked cease from troubling; and the weary be at rest. [/i] The group wanted to move off immediately to the mist-shrouded doorway, but a quick check of the map showed that they'd missed a few rooms. At any rate, as Keldas pointed out, they didn't yet have all the pieces to the key. Sure enough, they found a secret door that led to a set of unexplored rooms. Cautious as ever, they opened the door onto a large room, with a high ceiling, an altar at one end, and mysterious runes covering the checkerboard floor. Wulf pointed to the runes. "Trap, no doubt. Can yer read 'em from here?" Keldas shook his head. "Not really. Appears to be draconic, but I can't quite make it out. I could cast [i]Fly[/i] and hover out over them; see them better from above and not risk stepping on them." Wulf didn't like the thought of using Keldas' spell so early. "Hmph. Shorty's got a [i]Ring of Levitation[/i], let's just have him do it." Wulf looked expectantly at the halfling, who in turn looked to Loyal. Loyal nodded. "Well, ok." The halfling rubbed his hands together and floated out over the inscription. "Yep, it's draconic, all right. Let's see... Oh! A riddle! I like riddles!" The halfling read aloud to them, a long-winded piece touting the glory of the mighty dragon Ashardalon, but buried inside was a couplet that even Wulf had heard before: [i]"The poor have it, and the rich need it..."[/i] "Pfft. That's easy." The halfling said, "Nothing!" Immediately a crackling ray of light sizzled out of the altar and into Shorty's chest, striking him dead instantly. He dropped to the floor with a tiny, sickly thud. "HOLY CRAP!" The entire party jumped back a step or two. Wulf was the first to speak. "Ooh, sorry about your cohort, Loyal... Ahh... Ach, right, assmar-- evil altar. You're the next logical choice." The paladin protested only briefly, but the truth of the matter was that he was best equipped to ward off evil spells. He unfurled his [i]Wings of Flying[/i] and soared into the room. Keldas shouted from the doorway. "Don't read the runes!" Unfortunately, despite his near-godlike wisdom, the paladin couldn't help but look down. He, too, read the riddle, and there was a tension in the air as if [i]something[/i] waited for his answer. "Don't say 'Nothing!'," Keldas shouted. Wulf nodded. "Right! Don't say nuthin'!" The paladin said nothing. Apparently, that too was the wrong answer. The sizzling ray of light struck the paladin, but as they'd hoped, he fought off its full effect. Even so, though he did not die, the ray drained a significant portion of his life force. His comrades could see him withering from across the room. Alliane shoved her way to the front. "Lay hands upon the altar, Korak! Channel your divine energy!" "Use your mojo, assmar!" Wulf shouted. The paladin swooped down and laid his hands flat upon the altar, channeling all his divine energy into the stone. The altar buckled, cracked, and exploded. There was polite applause from the back of the room. "Didn't know I could do that," Korak admitted. "Good to know..." With the altar destroyed, they moved into the room. Wulf prodded the halfling's corpse with his toe and called Loyal over. "Get what yer need, elf, I'll come back and carry the body for yer." The elven archer stooped over his fallen comrade to recover anything of use. Wulf rubbed his hands together and peered through the archway off to the left of the altar. He could barely make out the shape of yet another sarcophagus. "Right. Next room. Dorn, assmar, come on." Wulf moved cautiously to the sarcophagus and searched it carefully before pronouncing it safe to open. He ignited [i]Taranak[/i] and stood at the head of the sarcophagus, motioning Dorn to its feet, and Korak to the side, so that he could push the heavy stone lid aside. "On three... three!" The paladin pushed aside the lid, and immediately a thick brown smoke spilled into the room. The cloud spread fast, filling their room almost instantly and even moving out into the nearby room with the altar. Wulf, Dorn, and Korak held their breath and the cloud passed. Alliane and Keldas covered their faces. Loyal coughed once, politely, looking only a little paler for having inhaled a good dose of the gas. "That wasn't so bad. Anything inside?" Wulf started fishing out a vial of holy water to consecrate the coffin while Dorn prodded around inside, recovering a few gems and other trinkets. "Not much of a take, really. I suppose that's why the trap wasn't particularly nas..." There was a hideous shriek and a gurgling sound from the next room. Loyal was standing over Shorty, while half his insides bubbled up from his mouth and the other half went sliding down his pants leg. Loyal toppled over onto Shorty in a pile of multi-colored goo that, curiously enough, matched the classic elven palette of greens, yellows, and browns he usually wore. Wulf smacked himself in the forehead. "Goddamn onset time! One minute! Yer could set yer clock by it! And I just sat there an' let it happen!" Dorn and Alliane felt equally responsible. "Really should have occurred to me, too," said Alliane, "though I didn't have any magic prepared to deal with it in any case." Dorn spread his hands. "Don't look at me, I'm just here for War support, really. Who knew the secondary effects would be so grim?" Keldas was unrolling his scroll of [i]Teleport[/i]. "Let's call it a day." ----- They returned to the old man, and sensing that the end was near, they fully prepared themselves for an encounter with Gulthias. Karak informed them that he had to pay a visit to the head of his order, and without saying another word, teleported himself off to the temple of Tyr. Wulf conferred with Keldas. "First, another [i]Teleport[/i] scroll. And I recommend some kind of permanent [i]Protection from Evil[/i] for me. Last person yer want dominated and under control of a vampire is me." [i]And as an added perk, it'll keep summoned critters off my arse, but there's no sense mentioning that or everyone'll want one.[/i] When it was all said and done, they'd stayed only a few days. Dorn had prepared a few useful scrolls, while Keldas and Alliane had made two magic helms of [i]Protection from Evil[/i], one for Wulf, and one that went, at least temporarily, to Loyal. After another painful ressurrection, Loyal and Shorty had come to a bit of an understanding-- with Shorty angrily swearing he wouldn't follow Loyal's orders into death anymore, and Loyal consequently swearing to protect Shorty's life with his own, for a change. The paladin returned after a couple of days but was curiously tight-lipped about the encounter with his superiors. "Rip yer a new one, did they?" ----- They returned to Gulthias' tower stronghold, moving systematically through more rooms, with more sarcophagi and more traps, from falling blocks to contact poisons to clouds of poison gas. They were, without a doubt, among the nastiest traps Wulf had ever seen, and despite his normally flippant attitude about poisoni, he took every precaution when opening the traps. He and Dorn alone would enter each new room, armed with rope, block and tackle, to remove the stone lid of each new sarcophagus. They had only one tense moment, when a cloud of poison gas spread so far and so fast that the rest of the group, even in the next room, was in danger. Shorty coughed and sputtered, and the group sprang into action-- removing cloaks, amulets, rings, whatever was at hand, and casting [i]Guidance[/i] and [i]Resistance[/i] as fast as they could. Moments later, from beneath a pile of magical protections, they finally heard Shorty sputter, "It's ok, I'm alright!" Their path was blocked only once more, by a group of gorillons led by a pair of hags. Dorn's whirling blades of divine wrath made short work of the gorillons, but the hags were unaffected. A lone gorillon managed to crawl his way to safety at the edge of the blade-storm, but Wulf dropped him with a couple of nasty slashes with his bone-handled dagger. The hags seemed to recognize the dagger, or perhaps the murderous look in Wulf's eye as they feebly lobbed [i]Magic Missiles[/i] at him; or perhaps it was his bellowing cry to, "...slit the belly of the next bitch-hag to come within arms' reach!" Whatever the cause, they turned invisible and fled the scene. Dorn ceased concentration on his blades so that the rest of the group could enter the room. He was approaching Wulf, who was scouting out a curious alcove that jutted out into the room, when Wulf abruptly disappeared from view. Korak had seen it, too, and though his mind didn't work quite as quickly, he gathered what had happened soon enough: Without hesitation, Dorn had followed in Wulf's footsteps and jumped into the alcove. Whatever fate was to befall Wulf, he was once again ready to share it. As Dorn disappeared, the paladin made up his mind and was the next to follow. Keldas hesitated a moment or two longer than one might expect-- a fact not lost on Wulf, who waited on the "other side" of the teleport in a small 10x10 closet. He was hastily grabbing his comrades and shoving them off the "entry point" as quickly as they appeared. He didn't want to imagine what would happen to someone who was standing there when another body materialized inside. Eventually they were all gathered together into a single small room. "Ain't this cozy. Wait here." Wulf opened the door and scouted the hallway where they had arrived. It was all new territory to them, a wide, winding hallway full of lots of small "closets" and empty rooms. They cleared them one by one, eventually terminating in a large room with over a dozen sarcophagi. It was a familiar scene, including the part where countless shadows melted out of the walls, leeching away Wulf's life force until he was nearly dead, only to be blasted back by [i]Holy Smite[/i] from the clerics and the holy symbol of the paladin. They found the last piece of the key in the mouth of a dragon statue that came alive to attack them. Though it took an incredible amount of punishment while flanked by Korak and Wulf-- including one of the rare but ferocious flame bursts from [i]Taranak[/i]-- the dragonnette did very little damage in return. The party was more concerned by the hags, who showed up at the opportune moment to harass them with magic from down the hall. Shorty and Keldas threw spells back in return, but were unable to pierce their magic resistance. Once again, as soon as the warriors arrived to support the spellcasters, the hags thought better of the situation, and fled invisibly. ----- Now, at last, they had all the pieces of the key. Keldas cleverly put each of the twisted metal pieces together-- they formed into a single dragon-shaped key. Their explorations had mapped out every last cranny of the tower catacombs-- everything except the misty alcove where the keyhole was found. They approached the alcove. As no one stepped forward to explore the mists, Loyal pulled a critter out of their [i]Bag of Tricks[/i]. A wolverine answered the call and seemed none too happy when Loyal gestured into the alcove. It held its head and its tail low and loped into the mists. After a moment, it returned. "So far, so good. Let's try the key." Wulf held out his hand for the key and Keldas willingly handed it over. After satisfying himself that there were no traps, Wulf inserted the key into the keyhole and cranked it around. The mists cleared a little bit and they could see to the other side of the alcove, not more than ten feet away, where a hallway stretched off beyond. The alcove was essentially like a little cubicle in the middle of a long hallway. Wulf checked their map. It seemed legitimate. Wulf tossed one of his stakes through, and it landed-- quite naturally although under the circumstances, quite unexpectedly-- on the other side. Wulf was still expecting something unpleasant. He looked at the wolverine again. "Fetch." The wolverine sighed and rolled its eyes, walked through the alcove, grabbed the stick, and returned. Nothing happened. They were expecting Gulthias, not an empty cubicle. On a whim, Wulf ducked his head into the alcove and looked [i]up[/i]. And there it was. Glaring down at him from some sixty feet up was a single point of light, as red as molten lava, like a baleful, unblinking eye. The ceiling was some forty feet across at the top, tapering down to ten feet to the alcove at the bottom, so it looked like an inverted alchemist's flask-- or perhaps a funnel. Wulf blinked to clear away the brief image of lava pouring down onto them all through that funnel. Wulf grabbed Shorty and pointed up at the light. "Use yer ring... Go check that out." Shorty pulled away. "I don't think so." "Oh for the love of... Criminy, one bad day and yer go all gun shy on me. Fine. Give me yer ring, and I'll go." Keldas interceded. "I'll go." In fact, he'd already cast the spell he needed. Assuming [i]Ghost Form[/i], he drifted up towards the glowing light. The rest of the party made ready. Alliane cast [i]Magic Circle[/i], Wulf downed a potion of [i]Spider Climbing[/i], Shorty floated up slowly behind Keldas, Karak flew up beside him, Loyal nocked an arrow and focused his aim on the pinpoint of light, and Dorn grumbled about not being able to fly. Keldas had nearly reached the ceiling and Shorty was not far behind. They could see that the pinpoint of light was a small hole in the middle of an iron port-hole cover set in the ceiling. Wulf crouched nearby on the wall. "Put yer eye up to it, Shorty, take a peek." The halfling ignored Wulf, focusing his attention instead on Keldas' ethereal form, which had drifted over to the edge of the ceiling. Keldas paused only a moment before poking his head through the ceiling-- or, as it were, through the floor of the chamber above them. Gulthias was ready for them. A ray of light struck Keldas, and he recognized it as a [i]Finger of Death[/i] as he fought off its effects. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't happy, and he retreated as fast as his [i]Ghost Form[/i] would allow. As he descended, Keldas gave a quick account of what he had seen, including a roll-call of Gulthias' last defenders. "Big room, throne, crystal ball, hag, wight, 4 white gorillons, 4 shadows, 6 vampire spawn, 8 spectres, Gulthias, and [i]a huge beating heart twenty feet across![/i]" Keldas had moved down just above the group on the floor and just below his comrades floating, flying, or clinging to the chamber above. When he was in position, he cast [i]Mass Haste[/i]. None too soon, as the shadows soon appeared around Shorty, attacking him viciously, draining his strength. Shorty fell back towards Wulf and the shadows pursued him. The voices of his comrades rung in his ears, advising him what to do, until finally the halfling shouted, "Enough!" He threw caution to the wind, started casting despite the fact that he was surrounded by enemies, and let fly with a [i]Burning Hands[/i] spell. Before Wulf could even reflect on how the Halma-like the halfling's behavior was, the first fan of fire was followed by another. Three of the four shadows were vaporized, and Wulf reached forward from his perch on the wall to hack apart the last one. Keldas pulled a scroll from his things and cast [i]Spider Climb[/i] on Dorn, who moved up the wall to join Wulf, ready with his holy axe should the spectres decide to appear. Wulf pointed up at the iron port-hole cover. "As soon as that thing's out of the way, be handy with something [i]warlike.[/i]" Shorty, his strength severely drained, had shrugged off all the extra gear he could spare, but his nerve held. "I got it." A thin ray flashed from Shorty's hand and struck the iron cover. "Look out below!" The iron plate was [i]Reduced[/i] to a fraction of its former size, and it came tumbling out of its moorings. Wulf and Dorn had their eyes locked on the hole in the ceiling though they were both more concerned with spectres coming at them through the very walls. As they looked on, a hag poked her head over the hole, silhouetted by the bright red glow from the room beyond. Loyal let fly with an arrow-- specially enchanted by Dorn's [i]Greater Magic Weapon[/i] spell. Where the hag had previously ignored Loyal's arrows, this time was different. She fell back howling from the hole. But her purpose, apparently, was served, as the next one to appear at the hole was none other than Gulthias himself. He cackled with glee and detonated a burst of [i]Dispel Magic[/i] amidst the heroes. Almost without exception, their [i]Haste[/i] spells withered away. Gulthias, of course, suffered no such fate: His own [i]Haste[/i] spell was still in effect, and he followed up his first spell with a massive [i]Fireball[/i] in downtown party central. As usual, Wulf's reflexes took over, and he avoided the entire blast. He couldn't ignore the cries of his allies, however-- particularly Shorty's plaintive wail. Though the halfling had dodged most of the blast, it had still nearly killed him. The frail sorceror looked over at Dorn (who'd taken the full brunt of the blast, and still looked none the worse for wear) and cried out, "Why am I even [i]here?[/i]" Shorty started to slowly levitate himself out of the area. Keldas was eager to sling spells against Gulthias, and countered with a targeted [i]Dispel Magic[/i] of his own to drop the vampire's preparations. As he began casting, the second hag appeared, clutching the wall across from Wulf. Her invisible form materialized as she attacked. "Fool!" she cried. "I've been waiting for that!" And with that, she loosed a horrendous volley of [i]Magic Missiles[/i] into Keldas to disrupt his spellcasting. Keldas winked and tapped the brooch at his neck. The hag's missiles struck the brooch and melted away harmlessly as Keldas completed his spell. Just beneath the port-hole, Karak watched as Gulthias' form shimmered under the [i]Dispel Magic[/i]. Not waiting to ponder what magic defenses had held and which had not, Karak flew up to the hole, and... Perhaps we should mention here what Karak had been up to, while the party was preparing in the Forge, and he was off visiting his superiors at the temple of Tyr. Karak had beseeched the head of his order to prepare for him a magic scroll, inscribed with a secret paladin's ritual known as [i]Sacred Journey[/i]. Although the price was steep-- and Wulf didn't want to think about where the paladin was coming up with that kind of petty cash-- there could be no doubt that the scroll was worth every copper. For the [i]Sacred Journey[/i], although it apparently could manifest in many different ways, had this profound effect upon the aasimar: It essentially doubled the amount of divine energy he could channel through his hands. Thus, when Karak soared up to the hole in the ceiling, reached his hand through, touched Gulthias' ankle, and channeled every ounce of positive energy he could muster, the entire audience in attendance, heroes and evil foes alike, were rather surprised by the outcome. Gulthias exploded into a million motes of dust, his magic rings and amulets tinkling down through the hole like candy from an overstuffed pinata. Without the protection of Gulthias, the clean-up was elementary. Some two dozen of the startled onlookers wouldn't live to witness another such event. ----- The party gathered up in the chamber above, where they could see up close the enormous beating heart that hung suspended on chains above their head. "Well, there's an eye opener, and no mistake!" Shorty was still a little punch-drunk from the fireball. "You want me to blast it?" "I don't have a stake big enough for that." It was probably twenty feet across. Shorty spoke up. "I bet that's Gulthias' coffin." Wulf looked to Keldas. "Ashardalon's heart, yer think? Probably not wise to muck with it." Keldas shrugged. "We'll see." And with that, he turned his face towards the ceiling and belched forth a cone of acid. The chains gave way and what was left of the heart came crashing to the floor. The outer layers of the heart were eaten away, and they could see into the interior-- a four chambered heart. Sure enough, Gulthias' ghostly form rested in one of the chambers, as snugly if it were a sarcophagus. "See yer." Wulf doused Gulthias' resting place with holy water. There was a loud, lingering shriek, then silence. The aura of evil seemed to have finally left Nightfang Spire. The party dove into the heart, searching for the final payoff. Dorn was already circling around Gulthias' crystal ball, admiring it from all sides. Keldas and Shorty had cast [i]Detect Magic[/i] and were amiably dividing up Gulthias' wizardly accoutrements, including a powerful [i]Ring of Protection[/i]. There were several other magic items, plenty of gold and gems, but nothing that Wulf really wanted. For the most part, he stood aside disinterestedly and let his comrades pick through the loot. Suddenly, something caught his eye. Wulf caught his breath between his teeth and stepped forward. He reached into the gory heart and pulled out a beautiful, bloody gold crown-- fit for a king. "Mine." [/QUOTE]
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Wulf's Collected Story Hour -- FINAL UPDATE 12/25
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